Psycho-Additive Tech

      The 21^st century had brought along new changes to the way we live today. Technology has evolved in a big way in these upcoming years, it has made our life easier and more efficient, but it does have a few drawbacks. I will be discussing the effects of technology on three different people, Julia, Ricki and Leo. Turkle the author of the story focuses on how technology affects their lives, especially on the focus of cellphones.

           Julia, a sixteen-year-old girl, is addicted to her cellphone.  Julia needs her phone constantly everywhere she goes; she needs her phone to deal with her loss and separation anxiety. Julia always needs to feel a sense of purpose; she needs to have constant validation from her peers; according to David Riesman. Her phone is always on her so that she can interact with her friends about the way she is feeling and or when she needs to talk. As someone from the 21^st century, I can understand our world is full new communication strategies, but it isn’t supposed to be helpful when someone is looking for attention. I can see that Julia has very low self-esteem because she always needs constant support from her friends; this shows that she maybe have been neglected in the past. I really feel bad for Julia. Because she has no independence within herself and this is to show how technology can affect people in accordance to someone who has dependent issues.

            

          Ricki, fifteen-year-old girl, also is addicted to her phone. Her phone is useful to her when she needs to finish her thoughts and when she is searching for constant validation from her friends. This demonstrates how teenagers are having problems with gratification; they do not have confidence within themselves nor self-esteem. Ricki shows signs of having a fragile personality. This generation does have some difficulties because of bullying and trying to fit in. Teens do not want to feel like an outcast, they want to feel wanted. They search for gratification from others. Ricki uses her phone to fill this void. Specifically, psychoanalytic traditions are having problems with the concept of narcissism; not because teens love themselves too much but because teenagers are not feeling confident and are not feeling good about whom they are. Psychopathology declares that too many teens are in a state where they don’t feel content with themselves. Teens are not happy with themselves that leads to problems of self-esteem and self worth. I feel like this will be a huge problem for teens in the upcoming generations.

         Leo, a sophomore, has problems with isolation. He uses his cellular device to contact his mother at all times. He doesn’t bother to interact with others because he is always on his phone or talking to his mom. This causes problems for him to meet friends. This demonstrates that teenagers are very obsessive over having their phones constantly with them. Teens don’t have one to one conversation because like Leo, some teens exclude everyone around them; that may be one of our problems with our new generation. Leo shows signs of abandonment because he always needs his mom’s support and his phone helps him deal with his dependency. According to Erikson, at Leo’s stage of development there is a distinction of Shame Vs Autonomy; Leo demonstrates that he is more in line of being shameful because he always needs his mom’s advice, comment or may need to talk to her all the time. He is not able to do things on his own it may seem. Leo does fill this void by using his cellphone because it copes with his dependency.

     All these teenagers have problems psychologically because they use their phones to manifest the way they feel and or fill the void of discomfort instead of focusing on them.  Our society is becoming too dependent on cellphones and what it can do for us, but we can’t lose side of our selves in the world of cellphones. Meeting new people is part of the way we live and if we exclude that, we will have a life of regret and loneliness. Technology is very good tool but how you use is what matters the most.

Image Ressource: http://inthebestofhealth.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/cell-phone-dependence-a-new-phenomenon/

Works Cited: "Alone Together" By Sherry Turkle
Erikson: Chart of development, stages
David Riesman (sociologist)